Inescapable
by Dmarx
Summary: Every time they get close to the truth about that fateful day in the cemetery, Kate manages to run from it. This time, she can't. Spoilers for Kill Shot and Cuffed.


_Summary: Every time they get close to the truth about that fateful day in the cemetery, Kate manages to run from it. This time, she can't. Spoilers for_ Kill Shot _and _Cuffed_._

_Author's Note: Naturally, I had to write something based on the _Cuffed_ spoilers. It was just too tempting. Let me know what you think!_

_Disclaimer: Maybe someday I'll be invited to write for Castle. Until then, that's what fanfiction is for. _

* * *

><p><strong>Inescapable<strong>

Richard Castle opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. He was in a dark room. He was lying face-down on a bed that was way too close to the ground to be his own. There was no pillow beneath his head and no blankets on the bed. Something was not right.

He lifted his head slightly and was met with a pounding headache. It was so bad, in fact, that when he turned his head and lay back down, he could have sworn that he was hallucinating, too. There on the bed next to him was Kate Beckett. She was lying on her back, her head turned towards him, eyes closed. There was no way this was real, Castle thought frantically, wracking his memory for something, anything, to explain how he could possibly be in bed with Kate.

At that thought, Castle jerked up in surprise, looking down in confusion to find that they were both still clothed. Well, at least _that _had not happened. If...when...they took that step, he wanted it to be something he would remember forever. And he hoped he would not wake up confused and with a terrible headache.

Castle gradually worked himself into a seated position, ignoring the pounding in his head for the time being. Right now, he needed to figure out where he was. Then he could deal with the headache. He sat all the way up, only then realizing that his left hand was stuck.

As Castle attempted to wriggle his hand free from whatever was confining it, Kate felt a constant tugging on her left wrist, drawing her slowly back into consciousness.

"Castle?" she asked in confusion, forcing her eyes to focus on the man next to her.

If the look on Kate's face was anything like what had been on his when he woke, she was clearly just as confused as him.

"You're lying on my hand." He tugged it for effect and Kate felt a pull on her left wrist again.

She lifted her hand between them, dragging his along with it. "No I'm not."

"Are we...?"

"What the...?"

They both pulled at their restraints, but to no avail. The metal was solid and would not budge, and as Kate looked closer, she recognized the handcuffs as her own.

She sat up then to face him, her free hand flying to her head. "Am I hung over?"

"I have a headache too but I don't remember drinking."

"Me neither."

Castle lifted their joined hands. "What happened?"

She reached around to both front pockets, searching for her key. It was not there.

"They took my key."

"I still have one," Castle said suddenly, recalling their very first case together. He wriggled around so he could reach his wallet, but when he opened it and rooted around, he found that key gone as well.

"Damn."

Kate looked around, taking in for the first time the walls surrounding them. They were brick, probably light brown, though the lack of light made it difficult to be sure. There were no windows and from where they sat, she could not see a door. Two small lights illuminated the room just enough to cast faint shadows, but aside from that, they were trapped in the dark. It smelled terrible, a combination of rat poop, mildew, and a general old, musty smell.

Castle glanced around too, equally baffled by their whereabouts. "Where the hell are we?"

"I have no idea."

She squinted at her watch but it was too dark to make out the position of the hands.

"Did we come here for a case?"

Kate felt for her badge and service piece. "I don't know. Maybe not. I don't have my gun."

Castle reached around on the concrete floor next to him. There was no sign of Kate's police gear, but he did find his phone. He turned the screen on, amazed at finding it unharmed.

"It's one in the morning."

"Seriously?" She found her own phone tossed haphazardly on the floor next to her and looked at it in shock.

"What the hell?"

As he thought about it, Castle was surprised the kidnapper had not taken their cell phones, but as he went to dial Alexis, he realized why; they had no service anyways, so calling for help was out of the question.

"We must be underground," he mused.

Kate dialed the precinct, finding the same result. "Damn."

"What do we do?"

Kate set her phone aside. "Find a way out."

They clumsily got to their feet, nearly toppling each other over as they struggled to balance while shackled together.

"Well this is awkward."

Kate turned, pulling his arm across his stomach as she moved to stand next to him. "Come on."

* * *

><p>An hour later, it was clear that they were not going to escape on their own. The door was locked from the outside, the walls were solid brick, and though they had tried slamming a table into the door and jabbing at the walls and the door with knives they had found hanging from the back wall, nothing was making any difference. There was no visible evidence as to where they were or how they had gotten trapped here. And as far as they knew, no one aside from their kidnapper knew they were here. They were really and truly locked in a basement, handcuffed together.<p>

Kate leaned against the wall, her head in her hand. She was cold, hungry, thirsty, and just plain pissed off.

"I can't believe this happened," she muttered.

Castle shook his head. "Me neither."

"They must have drugged us."

"It's the only thing that makes sense. But why?"

Kate thought back. "I can't even remember what case we were working on."

"Me neither."

"How long do you think we've been down here."

Kate shrugged. "I have no idea."

Silence fell as the direness of their situation set in.

Castle tugged her back towards the bed. "Can we at least lie down again? My head is killing me."

Kate followed reluctantly. Every muscle in her body was screaming that getting into bed with Castle was a terrible idea. But her head hurt too, as did most of the rest of her body. And she was cold.

They managed to lie back down without tripping over each other, Castle on his side, facing her, and Kate on her back. Before he could talk himself out of it, Castle slung an arm over her waist and pulled her onto her side so her back was against him.

"Castle," she hissed immediately.

"I'm cold," he whined. It was partly true, but the fact of the matter was that it was incredibly difficult to be in bed with Kate Beckett and not at least cuddle with her.

Her sigh of frustration turned into a shiver as his breath hit the back of her neck. "Fine, but only because I'm cold too," she lied in an attempt to pass off the tremor as completely innocent.

They fell into silence for a few minutes, both lost in thought.

"You know, this isn't how I imagined our first time in bed together would go," Castle joked after a while in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Me neither," Kate answered sleepily.

She felt Castle's arm tighten around her. "What was that?"

"I said, 'me neither.'"

"You've imagined us in bed together?"

Her whole body stiffened. "No."

"Liar."

"Castle."

"Kate."

She sighed, trying to ignore the voices in her head saying, 'I told you it was a bad idea.'

"Fine, maybe I have."

He smiled into her hair. "And?"

"And nothing, Castle."

They fell into silence again. He could have pressed this issue, but now did not seem like the time for that.

"Can I ask if it involved handcuffs?" he asked after a beat.

Kate suddenly became very aware of her surroundings. Her back was plastered against his chest, her body trapped against him by his arm, though she was not naïve enough to realize that if she truly wanted to escape, she could have. He was warm and solid behind her and his nose was buried in her hair. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and the warmth of his hand on her stomach.

"And if it did?" she shot back teasingly. This, she could handle. Their normal teasing and banter...that was much safer than talking about her dreams of him...because there had been quite a few, especially recently.

Castle tugged gently on her wrist. "Well, we have a pair right here."

He settled their hands back down on her stomach, this time inching his fingers beneath the hem of her shirt. The muscles of her stomach fluttered at his touch and she inhaled sharply but did not say anything else.

Castle had no idea how long they laid there. He thought he might have fallen asleep, but he was not quite sure. The silence was eerie and way too conducive to an overactive imagination, and one worst case scenario after another were chasing each other through his head. They had been here for hours, possibly an entire day, with no food or water. What if no one found them in time?

He was not sure if she was awake but he spoke anyways. It was something that needed to be said and if she was not awake to hear it, this could just be a practice round.

"Look, Kate, if we don't make it out of here, there's something I want you to know."

She rolled out of his embrace so quickly that Castle was not entirely sure what had just happened.

The expression on her face was unreadable. "What?" he asked.

"I already know," she admitted.

"No you don't."

"Yes, Castle, I do."

It was his turn to sit up rapidly. "You remembered?"

"Yes."

"When?"

She hung her head. "The moment I woke up from surgery."

He jerked his body away from her, as far as he could go with their joined wrists.

"Castle, I'm sorry," she offered instantly.

He did not respond right away, but dropped his head into his free hand, eyes tightly closed.

"Castle," she said again.

"You lied."

"I didn't know what else to do."

He lifted his head to glare at her. "You could have told me the truth."

"Yeah, and then what?" she challenged. "Josh was still in the picture. I was heavily drugged, I couldn't think straight. And I was in so much pain."

"Right, and you think I wasn't in pain?" he snapped. "I told you I loved you and then I watched you die, Kate. I watched your eyes slip shut and I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. And then I do, and what happens? You basically kick me out of your life for three months. _Three months,_ Kate. Three months and I had no clue if you were okay, if you were ever going to call me. It was bad enough almost losing you in the cemetery and then I lost you anyways."

"Castle, you never lost me."

He snorted.

"I came back, didn't I?"

"We've already had this argument," he retorted, turning away again.

"I said I needed space."

He rounded on her again. "Kyra told me she needed space, too, and the next time I saw her was eighteen years later on her wedding day."

The argument died on her lips. She had never known exactly why Castle and Kyra fell apart, but she figured it had had something to do with his fame and rich, party-boy attitude. Kate remembered mentioning her surprise that Kyra was so much more real than his ex-wives and she always assumed he had simply gotten bored of her. She never realized that Kyra had been the one to leave.

Their angry gazes locked and held. Castle broke first, turning away from her again and bringing his free hand up to rub at his face.

For the first time since they woke, Castle cursed the fact that he was handcuffed to her. Once it became clear that they were not going to escape without assistance, he had hoped that maybe they could finally have the conversations they had been avoiding; after all, they were stuck here together and Kate had no place to run. Now, though, he was the one wishing he could escape.

With their left wrists chained together, there were not a lot of plausible options, so Kate scooted around behind him and slid her arms around his waist. Their joined hands came to rest with her free one on his stomach and she pressed her cheek against the back of his shoulder.

He did not move away and she took that as a good sign.

"I'm sorry, Castle."

"Hmmm."

She tightened her hold. "Rick, please."

"It hurts, Beckett." It had been a long time since he had used her last name in a situation as personal as this, and Kate was surprised at how much it stung.

She lifted her head, rested her chin on his shoulder. "I never meant it to."

He turned his head away from hers. "So what, you just expected me to come running to you with open arms when I found out?"

"No, I just..."

"I trusted you!"

"I know you did. The problem was that I didn't trust myself."

"To what? Be honest?"

He felt her shake her head. "No, not that. I didn't...I didn't know what to say. Everything about my life was such a mess and I didn't trust myself not to screw up. Not to do something stupid." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "I guess I ended up doing that anyways, though."

He was silent as they sat there, Kate willing him to say something, anything. But Castle's thoughts were too tumultuous to form any coherent sentences. He was angry, yes, but he also understood her explanation, her choices. He did not necessarily agree with them, but he understood why she did it. Not that it made it hurt any less. He knew Kate was good at hiding her feelings but he did not think she was so good at lying to his face.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she added. "But in retrospect..."

"It wasn't," he interrupted harshly.

She shook her head sadly. "No."

"You lied to my face."

"I'm so sorry."

"That doesn't fix broken trust, Kate."

She sighed, expelling her breath onto the side of his neck. Castle shivered, but suppressed it.

"I know, Castle," she said softly. "I messed up, and I don't deserve your trust, but please...give me a chance to fix things. Give me a chance to make it right."

"You've had six months."

"I had to get myself in order first," Kate pointed out. "I knew I couldn't be with you until I could stand on my own two feet again."

"You didn't have to do that alone, you know."

She nodded, her chin rubbing against his shoulder. "Yes I did." She heard him huff in disagreement. "I did, Castle. This was one of those things I needed to work through on my own."

"That doesn't mean you had to push me away."

"I couldn't keep lying to your face."

"So you decided not seeing me was better than just coming clean?"

Well, when he put it that way, it made her sound terrible. "I guess."

His whole body stiffened.

"I know, it was stupid. It was selfish," she admitted. "And once we're un-cuffed, I wouldn't blame you if you walked away."

Castle turned to face her now. "I'm mad, Kate, but I'm not going to walk away. I could never walk away from you."

She met his eyes and saw the sincerity there, the love mixed with anger mixed with the first hints of understanding.

"Forgive me, Rick, please," she pleaded. "I know I made a mistake, but please don't let it ruin what we have."

"And what exactly do we have?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't know, but it's something that deserves a chance."

Castle looked up, down, anywhere but at her. He knew this was a make-it-or-break-it moment for them. She had lied to him, but she had also basically just laid her heart on the line for him. He knew it would be a while before he could fully trust her again, but he was not so blinded by his anger that he was willing to let this opportunity go to waste. It was, after all, the chance he had been waiting for for a long time.

And he was also not going to be the one to shatter Kate's heart.

"How do I know you won't lie again?"

Kate looked up at him. "You've learned from your mistakes, haven't you?"

That, he could not deny, because she had kicked him out of her life more than once and yet she had always taken him back. He guessed she deserved the benefit of the doubt on this one.

"What about that wall? You said you weren't ready before, that you couldn't do this until the wall came down."

She twisted her wrist around in the handcuff so they could lace their fingers together. "It's still there. But you're already inside of it."

"What are you saying?"

Kate took a deep breath. This was it; they were handcuffed together in a freezing cold, dark, damp basement, and this was their moment. Then again, anything romantic just would not have fit their style.

"I haven't solved the case, Castle. I'm still a mess from the shooting. You saw what that last case did to me. It tore me apart. But it made me realize that I can't let that define me. I can't keep letting chances pass me by because of this case."

"Kate..."

"What you see is what you get," she interrupted. "But I'm here. And I'm ready."

"I'll wait, Kate. We can wait until it's over if that's what you want."

She shook her head. "Aren't you listening? I don't want you to have to wait. _I _don't want to wait. I don't want to keep ignoring our feelings, wondering what could be."

His fingers tightened around hers. "You're absolutely sure?"

She reached out, brushed her fingertips over the slight stubble on his cheek. "I want this, Rick. I want us."

She would still have to prove herself to him again. There would be plenty of things for them to work through. But there was no reason they could not start their journey right here, right now.

Hardly daring to breath, Castle lifted his free hand to cup her jaw.

Her eyelids fluttered closed as he leaned in. "Castle..."

The rest of the sentence died on her tongue as his lips met hers, soft and warm and so much gentler than the first time they had kissed. That kiss had been a bit frantic, full of barely-restrained passion and fear for their kidnapped teammates. This one was calmer, apologetic, and full of promise and emotion. Full of love.

She returned the gesture just as readily, their lips locked in a tender caress. Her free hand slid down to his chest, her fingers absent-mindedly fiddling with the buttons on his dark colored shirt. It was slightly awkward with their hands cuffed together, their left arms crossed between them, but they hardly noticed. All Castle could think about was that Kate was_ finally_ kissing him, and her thoughts were firmly centered on the phrase 'please don't stop.'

They separated briefly, for the want of oxygen, but Kate quickly closed the gap again. His mouth was slightly open and she managed to nip at his bottom lip, pulling it into her mouth and tracing it with her tongue. His hand slid around into her hair, anchoring her to him. He was quickly becoming flustered and Kate chuckled into the kiss. He slipped his tongue more deeply into her mouth in response and just as the kiss started to heat up, the door behind them went crashing to the floor.

Castle and Kate pulled apart as though they had been burned, but with their wrists in shackles, there was only so far they could go. There was one more button undone than usual on Castle's shirt and Kate's hair was tangled where his fingers had been.

The partners sat there uncomfortably, hoping that there was no lingering evidence as to their actions.

"Ummm, are we interrupting?" Ryan asked cheekily.

"No," they both replied forcefully.

Esposito held out his hand. "They're lying, bro. Pay up."

Ryan put away his gun, fished an unknown denomination of money out of his wallet, and passed it to Esposito with a sigh.

"So how exactly did the two of you end up handcuffed together?" Ryan asked.

Esposito indicated the space beneath them. "Is that a bed I see?"

"Can you just un-cuff us?" Kate said impatiently, holding their left hands out, tugging Castle forward.

He grabbed onto her waist to steady himself, his fingers digging into her skin, and Kate had to fight the urge to press her body back against his.

"Where are we exactly?" He asked as Esposito fished out his spare key and released the metal that was binding their wrists together.

"You seriously don't know how you got here?"

Kate took her cuffs back and shook her head. "I don't remember anything."

Ryan turned and headed out through the broken-down door. "Come on, we'll explain on the way back to the station."

Esposito turned to follow his partner, but not before he caught a glimpse of Castle's hand resting on the small of Kate's back, guiding her out of the cold, dingy basement.

They climbed up the stairs and out of the building, stepping into the early morning December air. Kate was relatively certain that both of them had been wearing jackets, but their kidnapper had obviously taken those before shackling them together.

She wrapped her arms around her middle, huddling into herself against the cold, but it did no good. She could see her breath and could tell her ears and nose were already cold. Castle automatically wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him for warmth. Kate flinched slightly, knowing that Ryan and Esposito were scrutinizing their every move, but in the end, Castle's body heat won out over the inevitable teasing that would ensue.

All around them, CSU was already swarming the area, looking for any traces of evidence. Normally, Kate would have been on top of it, seeing what they had found, but right now, she just wanted food, water, and warmth. And to kiss Castle again.

She and Castle slid into the back seat of the cruiser and as they headed back to the station, Ryan and Esposito filled them in on the case, their new leads, the mystery kidnapper, and how they finally managed to track the two of them down. The boys dropped them off curbside, lingering long enough to tell them that Lanie would need to take a blood test right away, before heading back to the crime scene to see what CSU had discovered.

As they made their way to the elevator, the events of the day were beginning to catch up with them. Kate was freezing. Both of them were sore and bruised, probably from being dragged down the concrete stairs. Their headaches were better, but the after-effects of the drugs were still weighing on their bodies. Kate had come clean about the shooting. They had kissed.

At that thought, Kate turned to Castle and buried her head in his shoulder. He draped an arm over her shoulders and dropped a kiss in her hair.

"What's wrong?"

"That was really embarrassing," she muttered.

"Them walking in on us?" Somehow, he knew exactly what she was talking about.

Kate nodded against his shirt. "Yeah."

They untangled as the elevator dinged, signaling its arrival at their floor. "Hey, it could have been worse."

Kate looked at him. "How?"

He threw a wink in her direction as they stepped into the bullpen.

"We could have been naked."

Kate could not suppress a wicked grin at the sexy thoughts his words evoked.

This case could not be over soon enough.

* * *

><p><strong>THE END<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Thoughts?<em>


End file.
